Hundreds Of Howard Stern Fans Protest Indecency Crackdown

LOS ANGELES — It might have looked like a
typical protest rally if not for the legion of men in long curly wigs
and circular sunglasses.

Hundreds of Howard Stern listeners and free-speech supporters gathered
in front of the Federal Building on Friday (March 19) to protest the Federal
Communications Commission’s indecency crackdown and support the
shock jock’s radio assault on President George W. Bush.

“We’re here to support Howard because what’s going on with the FCC is
completely wrong,” said Gary Garver, a correspondent for “The Howard
Stern Show” and Los Angeles’ 97.1 KLSX-FM, who organized the protest.
“Howard has a real intelligent audience. It’s not just derelicts and
kids. They know what’s going on. And look around, it’s an eclectic
crowd.”

Eclectic indeed. Stern advocates of various sexes, races and ages
— from toddlers to elders — were lined along Wilshire
Boulevard on Friday, listening to Stern’s show on small radios and
encouraging drivers-by to honk in support.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno impersonators joined the Stern
look-alikes. There was a man in Kiss makeup and a dog covered in “Free
Speech” stickers. A group of entrepreneurs sold T-shirts bearing the
slogan “Got Freedom of Speech?” and Stern’s mug on a milk carton.

The equally diverse picket signs ranged from “Freedom of Speech,” “F
the FCC” and “Howard Is a Hero” to paragraphs comparing Janet Jackson’s
boob to “the boob running the White House.”

An older man held two signs, one completely blank. “I had the cure for
AIDS on my other sign, but George Bush stifled me,” read the other.

A woman named Socorro picketed on a high-traffic corner while her two
daughters looked on from their stroller.

“I’m here with my kids because I want them to know we were out here
trying, that we did our part to protest,” she said. “I don’t think it’s
going to stop with Howard Stern. He’s just a stepping-stone. Next thing
you know, we’re going to have to listen to what they consider right.
They’re nobody to tell me who I can and can’t listen to.”

Socorro was one of several protesters attacking Bush, whom Stern has
accused of “pushing the agenda of the religious right.”

“Bush went to Iraq to protect those people from having their country
run by religion, and now he’s doing that to us,” she said. “We’re being
run by his religion. Whether or not I agree with his religion is not
the point. We’re not a country run by religion.”

As Rock the Vote workers registered voters, numerous Stern supporters
said they planned to go to the polls against Bush.

“There’s a lot of people out there, including myself, who probably
wouldn’t vote,” said Garver, who has worked for Stern’s show for 12
years. “But now — guess what? — we’re all gonna be voting.
There’s going to be a snowball effect. It’s only March. Come November,
watch out.”

Tanya Volz, a 20-something Republican from Orange County, said she’s
considering voting Democrat in the election.

“The separation of church and state is really important, and the fact
that Bush is bringing so much church into the government is
ridiculous,” she said. “We need to get out and vote and save our First
Amendment.”

“It’s getting pretty scary,” added college-age Jeff Oderlin. “There’s
a religiously oppressive government trying to impose their morals on us
through the FCC. I’m ready to fight as long as I need to.”

Rachel Godfrey, who took the day off from work to join the protest,
shared her solution to the FCC’s decency outcry.

“I’m a longtime listener, and I admit Stern pushes the envelope,” she
said. “But like my mom said, I can turn the dial. What I find indecent
are these Christian stations talking about the devil and how I’m going
to hell.”

Congress is weighing legislation that would up the maximum penalty for
indecency violations from $27,500 to $500,000 per incident.